Chapter 53 Chapter Fifty-Three

Mr. Carey went back to his study with the newspaper.Philip shifted his seat, took his uncle's chair (it was the only comfortable one in the room), and looked out the window at the pouring rain.Even in this gloomy weather, the green fields stretching to the sky still have their inherent pleasant atmosphere.There was a kindly charm about this pastoral scene, Philip could not remember whether he had ever felt it before.Two years of living in France enlightened his mind and made him aware of the beauty of his hometown. Thinking of his uncle's words, Philip couldn't help but smile slightly.Fortunately, his temper tends to be frivolous!He began to realize how much he had suffered from the early death of his parents.This is a unique place in his life path, which prevents him from observing things with the eyes of ordinary people.Only the love of parents' licking can be regarded as a truly selfless relationship.Surrounded among strangers, he had somehow grown up, but he was often treated with neither patience nor restraint.He was quite proud of his self-control.His self-control was tempered by the cynicism of his companions. In the end, they said that he was cynical and ungrateful.In dealing with people, he learned to deal with it calmly, and in most cases, he was able to keep it quiet. Over time, he can no longer show his emotions in words.People say that he is a cold-blooded animal, but he knows in his heart that he is very emotional. If anyone occasionally does him a favor, he will be so touched, sometimes he dare not even open his mouth, for fear that others will find out his own feelings. The voice trembled.He recalled the painful student days and the humiliation he endured at that time, recalling how the ridicule of his classmates made him sickly afraid of making a fool of himself in front of others.Finally, he also thought that he always felt out of place, and after he stepped into the society, because of his active imagination.Full of longing for life, but the real life is so ruthless, the disparity between the two leads to the disillusionment of illusions and hopes.Still, he can dissect himself objectively and laugh it off with ease.

"My God! If I hadn't been frivolous by nature, I would have hanged myself!" he muttered to himself with ease. Philip thought again of what he had just said to his uncle.What did he learn in Paris?In fact, he learned far more than he told his uncle.A conversation with Cronshaw was one he would never forget; nothing that Cronshaw said casually, though common enough, opened Philip's mind. "My boy, there is no such thing as an abstract moral code." Thinking back to when Philip gave up his belief in Christianity, he felt quite relieved.Before that, his every move was directly related to the peace of the immortal soul, and he never dared to be negligent.After this, the sense of responsibility that bound his hands and feet was thrown away, and he felt unattached and uncomfortable.But now he knows that this is just an illusion.He grew up under the influence of religion.Although he abandoned religion, he kept the moral concept as an important part of religion intact.Therefore, he made up his mind that in the future, everything must be done by his own independent thinking, and he will never be swayed by various prejudices.He had purged from his mind all the outmoded notions of virtue and vice, the existing laws of good and evil, and resolved to find for himself another set of rules for living.He wondered if rules were necessary in life.This is one of the things he wants to figure out.Obviously, the reason why he feels that many "reasons" in the world make sense is nothing more than because people have taught him this way since he was a child, that's all.He has read a lot of books, but none of them can help him, because all of these works are based on Christian moral concepts, and even those authors who profess to not believe in Christianity are finally satisfied with following the principles of Christianity. The precepts of mountaineering trainees formulate a whole set of moral principles.If it is a magnificent book, if it is nothing more than admonishing people to follow the trend and not to go overboard when things happen, then this book seems to be not worth reading at all.If Philip wants to figure out how he should behave in the world, he believes that he can control himself and not be swayed by the public opinion around him.In any case, he had to live, so before establishing a philosophy of life, he first set a temporary rule for himself.

"Do whatever you want, just keep an eye out for the cops on the corner." He believes that his most valuable gain during his sojourn in Paris is his complete spiritual liberation.At last he felt absolutely free.He had casually browsed through a large number of philosophical works, and now looked forward to enjoying the next few months at his leisure.He began to read widely.He read with excitement the various systems of doctrine, in the hope of finding in them a guide to govern his actions.He felt like a wanderer in a foreign country, climbing mountains and wading, moving forward indomitably, while feeling moved by the wonders he experienced.He read all kinds of philosophical works, and his heart went up and down, just like other people study pure literature.When he found something that he had already vaguely felt between the lines with elegant artistic conception, his heart couldn't stop beating.His brain, which is adapted to thinking in images, is not very good when it comes to the field of abstract ideas.Even if he can't grasp the author's reasoning at times, he can still feel a lot of fun following the author's twists and turns and walking skillfully on the edge of the mysterious and difficult learning sea.Sometimes the great philosophers seemed to have nothing to say to him, and sometimes he recognized in their voices a wise man he knew well.He seemed to be an explorer who went deep into the hinterland of Central Africa, and suddenly broke into an open highland. He saw towering trees on the highland, and patches of grassy grass scattered among them. He thought he was in a park in England. .Philip liked the vitality and accessible insights of Thomas Hobbes and was in awe of Spinoza.Before that, he had never come into contact with such a noble, reserved and severe philosopher, which reminded him of Rodin's sculpture "Bronze Age" which he ardently admired.And Hume, the charming philosopher whose skepticism tugged at Philip's heartstrings.Philip was very fond of his lucid style, which seemed to be able to deduce complex thoughts into concise language with a sense of music and rhythm, so when he read Hume's works, it was like enjoying a novel, There was a happy smile on the corner of his mouth.In all these books, however, Philip just couldn't find what he wanted.He seems to have seen this statement in some book: Whether a person is a Platonist or an Aristotle follower, whether he is an ascetic or a hedonist, is all destined by nature.The life experience of Georgie Henry Lewis (apart from telling the world that philosophy is nothing more than empty talk) just shows the fact that every philosopher's thoughts are always connected with his flesh and blood; As a person, you can guess the philosophical thoughts he expounded to a large extent.It seems that you don't act a certain way because you think a certain way; in fact, you think a certain way because you are made a certain way.Truth has nothing to do with it.There is no such thing as "truth".Everyone has their own set of philosophies.The whole set of concepts painstakingly concocted by the great men and sages of the past is valid only for the author himself.

In this way, the crux of the problem is to figure out what kind of person you are. Once this is clear, your philosophical system will be formed naturally.According to Philip, there are three things to know: how a man relates to the world in which he exists; how a man relates to those who live around him; how he relates to himself.Philip carefully worked out a study plan. One of the advantages of living abroad is that you can not only get in touch with the customs of the people around you, but also observe them objectively as a bystander, so that you can find that those customs and habits that the local people regard as indispensable are actually not followed. necessary.You will not fail to notice that some beliefs that seem natural to you appear ridiculous to foreigners.Philip lived in Germany for a year, and then stayed in Paris for a long time, which prepared him for the doctrine of skepticism, so now when this doctrine was presented to him, he hit it off and felt a sense of belonging. An indescribable joy.He saw that there is no distinction between good and evil in the things in the world, and they exist only to suit certain purposes.He read it, and many problems that had perplexed him seemed to be solved.He is now rather like a natural investigator who, by deduction, expects that nature must exhibit certain characteristics, and then, going up the river, finds, as expected, a tributary here, and a densely populated fertile field there. , and the past is the rolling hills.Whenever a major discovery is made, the world will always wonder in the future: Why was it not immediately accepted by people in the first place?Why should it not have any significant impact on those who admit its authenticity?Although the earliest readers of a book accepted the book's views rationally, the basis of their actions-emotion, was not touched.A whole generation has passed between the publication of this great book and the birth of Philip; many of the contents of the book that once horrified the previous generation have gradually been accepted by the majority of this generation, so Philip can now read it with ease. This tome.Philip was deeply moved by the spectacle of the struggle for existence, and the moral principles proposed by this struggle for existence seemed to be in perfect harmony with his original ideological tendencies.He secretly said to himself, yes, might makes right.In this struggle society is on the one side--society is an organism with its own laws of growth and self-preservation--and the individual is on the other side.All actions that are beneficial to society are called good deeds; all actions that are harmful to society are called evil deeds.The so-called good and evil is nothing more than this.And the so-called "sin" is really a prejudice that a free man should get rid of...

Philip felt that if there was no question of who was right and who was right personally, then conscience would lose its restraint.With a triumphant cry, he grabbed the scrambling villain and threw him hard from his chest.However, he is no closer than ever to the true meaning of life.Why does this great world exist?Why did human beings come into being?These questions remain as unexplained as ever.Of course, there must be reasons.He thought of Cronshaw's "Persian rug" analogy.Cronshaw uses that analogy as an answer to the riddle of life.I remember that he also added a sentence in a mysterious way: You have to find out the answer yourself, otherwise it will not be an answer.

"The devil knows what he sells in his gourd," laughed Philip. In this way, on the last day of September, Philip, eager to implement a new philosophy of life, took his property of sixteen hundred pounds and dragged his lame leg to London for the second time.This is the third beginning of his life path.